Travel restrictions on ex-Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. were loosened Monday after he told a judge that the rules limited him to taking his children to see their imprisoned mother only about once a month.

Their mother — and Jackson's wife — is Sandi Jackson, a former Chicago alderman who is serving a one-year sentence in a federal prison camp in Alderson, W.Va.

She is scheduled to be released Oct. 18, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Jackson Jr., 51, entered prison in October 2013 to begin a 30-month term. He served time in two federal correctional facilities and a halfway house and was on home detention until last September.

He is now on supervised release, or what used to be called parole. Rules had required him to seek approval from a probation official every time he wished to travel with his children to see his wife, a court motion said.

"Due to the travel restrictions, Mr. Jackson has only been able to visit with his wife with his kids on average of once a month," the motion stated. The motion added that he has been unable to take the children to Chicago to visit their paternal grandparents: civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline.

Former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson surrendered Tuesday to a prison camp in West Virginia to start a one-year term arising out of a public corruption case that brought down her husband, former Democratic Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

Jackson, 52, entered the minimum-security camp in Alderson, W.Va.,...

(Katherine Skiba)

The restrictions hinder Jackson Jr. from "continuing to foster a stronger relationship with his wife, his children and their paternal grandparents, which has placed a great burden on the family," according to the motion.

Jackson Jr. was in Congress from 1995 until he quit late in 2012 amid a criminal investigation and after treatment for bipolar disorder and depression. Sandi Jackson, 52, represented the 7th Ward on Chicago's South Side from 2007 until she resigned in 2013, shortly before she and her husband entered guilty pleas to felonies in federal court in Washington.

Jackson Jr. looted about $750,000 from his campaign treasury over several years and spent the money on vacations, furs, celebrity memorabilia and two mounted elk heads, among other things. His wife failed to report much of that money on tax returns.

The judge staggered the two prison terms because of the couple's children, a girl who is now 16 and a boy who is 12. The couple have homes in Washington and Chicago.

The saga of a former Democratic power couple is about to take a new turn as ex-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. completes his prison term, triggering a 30-day wait before his wife, Sandi, a former Chicago alderman, must surrender to authorities.

Jackson Jr., 50, has been on home detention in the nation's...

(Katherine Skiba)

The terms of Jackson Jr.'s supervision had required him to stay in Washington unless a judge or probation officer said he may leave, court records show.

The judge granted Jackson Jr.'s request to allow him to email his probation officer before proposed travel and say where he is going and why, then confirm when he returns to Washington.

The motion said the probation office and federal prosecutors did not oppose the request and that Jackson Jr. has been "very compliant" with probation and travel rules up until now and has committed no infractions.

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington had no comment on the request Monday.

Jackson Jr., while on home detention in the nation's capital, was given permission last summer to visit his ailing paternal grandmother in Greenville, S.C., and later to attend her funeral.

The correctional facility where Sandi Jackson is serving time was nicknamed "Camp Cupcake" when domestic diva Martha Stewart was imprisoned there. Sandi Jackson faces 12 months of supervised release after she leaves the prison camp.

A version of this article appeared in print on February 23, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Judge eases travel restrictions on Jackson Jr. - Ex-lawmaker gets leeway so kids can see mom in prison" —
Today's paperToday's paper | Subscribe